Christmas in Legend and Story. Elva Sophronia Smith

I. HAZELTINE,

      SUPERVISOR OF CHILDREN'S WORK,

      ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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      The compilers wish to thank Mrs. Margaret Deland for permission to use

       "The Christmas Silence;" Mrs. Etta Austin McDonald for her adaptation of

       Coppée's "Sabot of Little Wolff" from "The Child Life Fifth Reader;"

       Josephine Preston Peabody for "The Song of a Shepherd-Boy at Bethlehem;"

       Mrs. William Sharp for "The Children of Wind and the Clan of Peace," by

       Fiona Macleod; Nora Archibald Smith and the editors of the Outlook for "The Haughty Aspen;" and the editors of Good Housekeeping Magazine, Little, Brown & Company and Mrs. Velma Swanston Howard for her translation of "The Legend of the Christmas Rose," by Selma Lagerlöf, taken from Good Housekeeping Magazine, copyright, 1907. Copyright, 1910, by Little, Brown & Company.

      Thanks are also due to the following publishers for permission to reprint poems and stories on which they hold copyright: The Century Company for four selections from St. Nicholas, "The Little Gray Lamb" by A.B. Sullivan, "A Christmas Legend" by Florence Scannell, "Félix" by Evaleen Stein, "The Child Jesus in the Garden;" The Churchman Company for "The Blooming of the White Thorn" by Edith M. Thomas; Doubleday, Page & Company for "Neighbors of the Christ Night" by Nora Archibald Smith; E.P. Dutton & Company for "The Sin of the Prince Bishop" by William Canton; Ginn & Company for "Christmas Carol" from "Open Sesame;" Mr. William Heinemann for "The Flight into Egypt" by Selma Lagerlöf; Houghton Mifflin Company for "The Child Born at Bethlehem" by H.E. Scudder, "The Christmas Song of Caedmon" by H.E.G. Pardee, "The Little Mud-Sparrows" by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

      "St. Christopher of the Gael" and "The Cross of the Dumb" are included

       through the courtesy of Messrs. Duffield & Company. From "Poems and

       Dramas" by Fiona Macleod, copyright, 1901, 1903, 1907, by Thomas B.

       Mosher; 1910 by Duffield & Company.

      The selection "Christmas at Greccio" from "God's Troubadour" by Sophie

       Jewett is included by special arrangement with T.Y. Crowell Company. "The

       Little Friend" by Abbie Farwell Brown, "Christmas Hymn" by R.W. Gilder,

       "The Three Kings" by H.W. Longfellow, and "The Star Bearer" by E.C.

       Stedman are included by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company;

       and "The Three Kings of Cologne" by Eugene Field, and "Earl Sigurd's

       Christmas Eve" by H.H. Boyesen, by special arrangement with Charles

       Scribner's Sons.

      The story of St. Christopher is taken chiefly from the "Golden Legend," but a few suggestions for its adaptation were obtained from a version by Olive Logan.

      "THE GRACIOUS TIME"

      THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS ST. LUKE, II, 1–16

      THE CHILD BORN AT BETHLEHEM HORACE ELISHA SCUDDER

      AS JOSEPH WAS A-WALKING OLD ENGLISH CAROL

      THE PEACEFUL NIGHT JOHN MILTON

      THE CHRISTMAS SILENCE MARGARET DELAND

      NEIGHBORS OF THE CHRIST NIGHT NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

      CHRISTMAS CAROL FROM THE NEAPOLITAN

      A CHRISTMAS HYMN RICHARD WATSON GILDER

      THE SONG OF A SHEPHERD—BOY AT BETHLEHEM JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY

      THE FIRST CHRISTMAS ROSES ADAPTED FROM AN OLD LEGEND

      THE LITTLE GRAY LAMB ARCHIBALD BERESFORD SULLIVAN

      THE HOLY NIGHT ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

      THE STAR BEARER EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN

      THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN ST. MATTHEW, II, 1–12

      THE THREE KINGS HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

      THE THREE HOLY KINGS ADAPTED FROM THE GOLDEN LEGEND, AND OTHER SOURCES

      THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE EUGENE FIELD

      BABOUSCKA ADELAIDE SKEEL

      THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT SELMA LAGERLÖF

      THE HAUGHTY ASPEN NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

      THE LITTLE MUD-SPARROWS ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS

      THE CHILDREN OF WIND AND THE CLAN OF PEACE FIONA MACLEOD

      THE CHILD JESUS IN THE GARDEN AUTHOR UNKNOWN

      THE MYSTIC THORN ADAPTED FROM TRADITIONAL SOURCES

      THE BLOOMING OF THE WHITE THORN EDITH MATILDA THOMAS

      LEGEND OF ST. CHRISTOPHER ADAPTED FROM THE GOLDEN LEGEND

      ST. CHRISTOPHER OF THE GAEL FIONA MACLEOD

      THE CROSS OF THE DUMB FIONA MACLEOD

      THE CHRISTMAS SONG OF CAEDMON H.E.G. PARDEE

      GOOD KING WENCESLAS JOHN MASON NEALE

      THE CHRISTMAS AT GRECCIO: A STORY OF ST. FRANCIS SOPHIE JEWETT

      THE SIN OF THE PRINCE BISHOP WILLIAM CANTON

      EARL SIGURD'S CHRISTMAS EVE HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN

      A CHRISTMAS LEGEND FLORENCE SCANNELL

      THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS ROSE SELMA LAGERLÖF

      FÉLIX EVALEEN STEIN

      THE SABOT OF LITTLE WOLFF FRANÇOIS COPPÉE

      THE LITTLE FRIEND ABBIE FARWELL BROWN

      WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO COUNT LYOF N. TOLSTOÏ

      CHRISTMAS IN LEGEND AND STORY

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"THE GRACIOUS TIME"

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      According to tradition, on the Holy Night there fell upon Bethlehem of Judea a strange and unnatural calm; the voices of the birds were hushed, water ceased to flow and the wind was stilled. But when the child Jesus was born all nature burst into new life; trees put forth green leaves, grass sprang up and bright flowers bloomed. To animals was granted the power of human speech and the ox and the ass knelt in their stalls in adoration of the infant Saviour. Then it was that the shepherds abiding in the field with their flocks heard the angels praising God, and kings of the Orient watching in their "far country" saw ablaze in the heavens the long-expected sign. Even in distant Rome there sprang up a well or fountain which "ran largely" and the ancient prophetess, Sibyl, looking eastward from the Capitoline hill heard the angel song and saw in vision all the wonders of that night.

      There are many such traditional tales of the nativity, of the "star-led wizards" and of the marvels wrought by the boy Christ. They tell of the bees singing their sweet hymn of praise to the Lord, of the palm-tree bending down its branches that the weary travellers fleeing from the wrath of Herod might be refreshed by its fruit, of the juniper which opened to conceal them and of the sweet-smelling balsam which grew wherever the drops of moisture fell from the brow of the Boy "as He ran about or toiled in His loving service for His Mother." Quaint fancies some of these, perhaps, and not all of them worth preserving; but oftentimes